Free Web NovelChapter 426: Chapter 224: Liu Sanshun 2
Juhua smiled. "My dad wanted to try planting two crops of rice this year, so we started a little early."
Cui said, "Oh," and nodded, though she didn’t seem to fully understand.
When Meizi, Xiu, and Cui arrived at Juhua’s backyard, they were stunned by the sight of a long, dense row of green chili seedlings.
Meizi asked in bewilderment, "How did you grow so many? There must be hundreds... no, thousands of them!"
Xiu laughed. "Probably more than just a few thousand!"
Juhua laughed, a little embarrassed. "I don’t really know much about it, and my mom didn’t have time to manage them. We had a lot of seeds left over from last year, so I just scattered a big handful along one row. I never expected so many to sprout." ’I was about to just pull them out and stir-fry them like vegetable shoots. After all, they say chili shoots are good for you—they clear your head and brighten your eyes.’
Meizi said happily, "Now that they’ve grown, we can’t just pull them out and throw them away. That would be such a waste! The workshop is being built in the second half of the year anyway, and we’ll definitely need a lot of chilis, so let’s plant all of them. Juhua, your family has more land, so you plant more, and I’ll come help you. Xiu, Cui, you two take a bunch, too. Plant them in front of and behind your houses—fill up any empty space you have. They don’t have to be in a proper field. I’ll tell Mei to come get some later, too."
Seeing Meizi taking charge and planning everything, Juhua couldn’t help but smile. ’Meizi is getting really good at managing things.’ She said, "I already spoke to Mei. But she sowed a bunch herself, so she doesn’t need any. She said she’ll ask around for me later and see if anyone else wants to come get some to plant."
Suddenly, Zhang Huai’s face appeared in her mind. ’I should have Aunt Zhang come get some to plant, too,’ she thought. ’If she plants a lot, she can use them to make pickled spicy cabbage in the winter. Yes, I’ll have my brother take a message to Huai Zi later.’
She had truly sown far too many. Meizi, Xiu, and Cui took what they estimated they could plant at their homes, but looking at the row, they had barely cleared a corner.
Juhua’s mouth twitched. She thought with a sigh of resignation, ’Worst case, we’ll just plant them all ourselves. Once we harvest the chilis, we can figure out a way to sell them.’
When Qingmu came home from school that evening, she told her brother to pass a message to Huai Zi’s mother, inviting her to come get some chili seedlings to plant. She herself let Aunt Zheng know where she was going and went with Qingmu to plant chilis in the field by the fish pond.
Qingmu said to her, "Don’t worry. We’ll find space for them wherever we can. It’s not a bad thing to have a lot of chilis."
So, working in the early mornings and evenings, the brother and sister did just that, tucking seedlings into every available space. They even planted a good number in the Huangdou fields. They had already intercropped Huangdou in the Shanyu fields and cornfields, and now adding chilis to the mix made it all a motley mess. But the two of them didn’t care. As long as everything grew and bore fruit, that was all that mattered.
That morning, Xiu came to Juhua’s again for some more chili seedlings. As it happened, Juhua and Aunt Zheng were about to head to the fields to plant chilis, so Xiu decided to go along with them to take a look.
The two of them had barely exchanged a few words when they saw Liu Sanshun hurrying over with a small bucket. Spotting Juhua from a distance, his eyes crinkled into a smile, his round face looking exceptionally bright in the sunlight.
Seeing him carrying a wooden bucket, Juhua wondered, ’What kind of goodies has he found now?’
She called out, "Sanshun, you look so happy! Did you find something good again?"
Liu Sanshun stopped by Juhua’s family fish pond and waved at her with a grin. "Come have a look! I netted some small fish in the Little Qing River. I’ll give you some. There are two little turtles, too!" Then he turned to greet her mother, "Aunt Zheng, planting seedlings, are you!"
Aunt Zheng looked up at him and smiled. "Ah, Sanshun! How are your fish doing?"
’Fatty Liu’s sons have all turned out so well,’ Aunt Zheng thought. ’Ershun’s bamboo wares are sold on consignment at Juhua’s uncle’s shop, and he’s earning a decent bit of money. Sanshun is pouring all his energy into that fish pond—it looks like he’ll have a big harvest by the end of the year. And I heard even Sishun has been studying much harder these days.’
’It really is a good thing to have many sons,’ Aunt Zheng thought, looking at Sanshun with envy.
Liu Sanshun was delighted that Aunt Zheng asked about his fish, but it wasn’t something he could explain in a few words, and he wasn’t one to brag. So he replied with a measured tone, "It’s too soon to tell. But with how much care I’m putting in, it can’t all be for nothing, right?"
Juhua dropped the small hoe in her hand, dusted off her palms, and smiled at Xiu. "Come on, let’s go take a look!"
Xiu’s face flushed as she looked at the brightly smiling Sanshun standing on the bank of the pond. She nodded and followed Juhua toward the water.
This was the spawning season for many kinds of fish. Juhua didn’t know the habits of different species, so she had just thrown them all in together. She had put in a bit of every type of fish she could net from the Little Qing River and other ponds, with the exception of snakeheads. She had no idea if this was an ecologically sound way to farm them.
Liu Sanshun saw her in a straw hat and old clothes, her trouser legs tied tight and her hands still caked with dirt. ’She looks every bit the farmer,’ he thought. ’Juhua is such an honest, down-to-earth girl who knows how to run a home.’
But seeing her like this also made his heart ache a little. ’Qingmu’s schooling really takes him away from a lot of the work,’ he mused. ’Otherwise, these tasks wouldn’t fall to Juhua. All the chickens, ducks, and pigs at her house are already enough to keep her busy, not to mention cooking. And now she’s out in the fields planting vegetables... sigh! She’s still so young. It must be exhausting for her.’
Juhua reached the bank of the pond and smiled at Liu Sanshun. She first thanked him for bringing her fish fry when he was so busy, then asked what wonderful things he had managed to catch.
Liu Sanshun’s face was a picture of amiability. "It’s nothing special, just the common types from the Little Qing River. I recognize some, but not others. We’re no experts, so we just have to put in a bit of everything and figure it out as we go. If we put more in now, some of the fish are spawning, so it’s like we brought their whole families over. Changxing and I were netting for a good while. For a small pond like yours, just a share of these fry will be more than enough."
Juhua peered into the wooden bucket. Sure enough, it was filled with all sorts of fish, big and small, of every shape and color. But the most delightful sight was two small turtles, each about the size of a child’s fist. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
